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  She headed to the meeting room and Mac fell in behind her. “So was I. I had to work late. Is everybody here?”

  “Almost. Bill had to babysit his kids.”

  Joan rolled her eyes. Inside the meeting room, which was actually a sparsely furnished managerial office with dusty floors, were three others. There was Kip, Lucky and his wife, Lucy, and of course, her and Mac. She shrugged off her sweater, tossed it on a side table, and placed her purse on the pile. “I’m sorry I’m late, everyone.” She picked up a piece of chalk and went to the blackboard with a big sigh to help calm her nerves. “Okay. Any new leads?”

  Lucy took out a wrinkled notepad and leafed noisily through the pages. “We have an unconfirmed vamp sighting in Tampa, two in Saint Pete, and one in Orlando. But my sources tell me the Orlando sighting is just a local crackpot with porcelain fangs.”

  Joan wrote all the information on the board, then took a step back to admire her handiwork. “Any others?” She scanned the group, looking for signs of life.

  Kip raised his hand.

  “Yes, Kip?” Joan said.

  The man shifted his bulk in the chair and took a deep, labored breath. When he spoke, his thick tongue made it difficult to understand him. “I heard rumors my neighbor was a vamp, but I can’t confirm that.”

  “Do we have any confirmed sightings?” Joan said, exasperated. No one would think this group was composed of professional vampire hunters. They looked like a bunch of science fiction convention geeks.

  A loud bag came from upstairs. Everyone took a moment to stare at the ceiling, wondering if whatever it was might just end up falling on their heads. A few bits of plaster crumbled from the ceiling to the floor. Finally, Mac stood up. “I’ll check it out.” He grabbed a baseball bat leaning against the wall and headed out of the room.

  “I’ll go with him,” Kip said, getting up with effort. He took a moment to grab his cane and steady himself, then marched out after Mac. She sure hoped the big man didn’t give himself a heart attack.

  Joan rubbed her face. “Now, back to where I―”

  The next second, Mac and Kip emerged and ran back in. Yes, her eyes were not deceiving her, Kip was running, and holding his cane above his head. In fact, Kip was sprinting with as much speed as a high school athlete. “Vamps! We’ve got vamps! Real, live vamps!” he shouted.

  The room erupted into chaos. Everyone broke for the door at once, pushing and shoving each other out of the way in a blind panic. Lucky even shoved his wife into the wall because she was moving too slow.

  Joan tried to tell them to calm down and get weapons, but the truth was, no one was ready for this. When they went out hunting vamps, it was during the day when the monsters were asleep in whatever hovel they lived in. No one in their small group had actually fought a walking, talking vampire, and that included her. Now they had real trouble on their hands.

  Deciding she wasn’t going to stay and fight the supernatural alone, Joan grabbed her sweater and purse and turned to run away, too, but she was a second too late. For there, standing in front of her, was a towering master vampire blocking her escape. The other three vampires that had broken in with him busied themselves pursuing what remained of her group.

  The master vampire took a few slow steps forward until he was standing inches from her. His intelligent and commanding eyes tore into her like a knife and any thought of running from him simply flew right out of her head. Not that she minded, because this vampire had to be the most attractive man Joan had ever laid eyes on. His piercing green eyes glowed with demonic power and a cruel sexiness oozed from every pore. A faint scent of black licorice whiffed off his dark, three-piece suit. Joan thought the suit was very severe and made the vamp look like an undertaker, which was probably appropriate under the circumstances. I am so royally screwed.

  Joan decided her only defense was to play innocent. “This is private property. Who are you and what do you want?”

  The master vampire’s eyes glowed with witchcraft. Joan could feel herself falling under his spell quickly, but she did her best to fight it. He reached out, grabbed her sweater and purse and threw them on the floor. “You won’t be needing those. My name is Severus, and you, my dear, are my new toy.”

  “No, I’m no. Now get the heck out of my way.” Joan fought hard to break eye contact, but it was useless. She was doomed. Tall, dark and sexy was going to stick his fangs in her and she was going to spend the rest of eternity being tortured for killing his people. Just great. This certainly hadn’t been in the vampire hunting book she’d picked up at that weird used book store.

  “Your bravery is admirable, but I’m afraid I must insist.” Severus grabbed her jaw and forced her face toward her companions. Everyone was tied up and being held at knife point by the other vamps. This is turning into a total disaster. Oh my God, I can’t watch these monsters kill my friends!

  Joan’s heart was hammering in her chest so hard it felt like it was pushing into her throat. “Please, don’t! I’ll do whatever you want. Please, don’t hurt anyone.”

  Severus smiled and it was chilling. “How very noble. Very well then, let’s just see how obedient you can be. Get on your knees.”

  Joan knelt down before the vampire and bowed her head. She’d do anything not to watch him slaughter her friends. Anything.

  Severus ran his fingers into her hair, grabbed a handful, and forced her to look up at him. “Do you have any idea how furious I am with you and your little band of misfits?”

  “I’m sure I can guess.”

  “Did you think your vampire hunters would go unnoticed?”

  Joan swallowed the lump in her throat. “Honestly, I never gave the consequences much thought. The book said you were all a bunch of…”

  “What?” Severus asked, barely containing his anger.

  “A bunch of animals,” Joan finished awkwardly.

  “And what do you think now?”

  “I’m kind of thinking I should have done more research,” she replied.

  Severus grunted his agreement. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill the lot of you.”

  “Because this is all my fault.” She glanced over at her friends cowering under the glare of the other vampires. “Don’t punish them for my mistakes. I already told you I’d do anything you wanted. Please, just let them go.”

  “Do you give yourself to me completely, without reservation, in exchange for their lives?”

  What could she do? What choice did she have? Joan hesitated, chewing her lip. Tears threatened to flow from her eyes, but she fought hard and regained control.

  “Well?” Severus asked. His voice had taken on a nasty, harsh tone that was all maniacal anger.

  “Yes, yes! Okay. Anything you want. But I want to watch you let them go.”

  The three other vamps untied her friends and opened the alley door. Everyone rushed out without even a glance back at her. That’s really nice. Not even a thought to what’s going to happen to me.

  With effortless strength, Severus picked her up, threw her over his shoulder and carried her out of the warehouse. The other three vamps slipped back into the shadows as if they had never been there at all.

  Chapter Four

  The house Severus brought her to was a stunning, dark blue, Queen Anne Victorian mansion situated on top of a hill. It was sure a far cry from Joan’s modest one bedroom apartment located above a liquor store. Severus pulled his black sedan into the driveway and came around to hold the passenger door open for her. It was an odd act of chivalry that took her by complete surprise.

  “Thanks,” Joan said, not able to take her eyes off the magnificent house before her. She followed Severus up the steps and watched in astonishment as the front door opened without the vampire touching it. Inside, there was very little light. Only a few soft lamps in the foyer and living room illuminated the inside. The outside world had been shut out by long, thick drapes.

  Joan hesitated just inside the threshold. The door closed gently behind he
r. She swallowed. “What are you going to do with me?”

  “First, I’m going to punish you for the vampires you’ve disturbed, and then I’m going to keep you as my pet. You may earn your freedom, but that depends on how good you are.”

  It felt like there was a tennis ball lodged in her throat. “I don’t want to be punished. I haven’t done anything wrong.”

  Severus walked forward until he was only a few inches from her face. He regarded her with those cruel, green eyes. “Do you deny hunting vampires?”

  Joan shifted uncomfortably. Now, she could deny it, but he’d know she was lying. Better just to try and come up with an excuse. “It was in self-defense. They were threatening the city and we were just protecting people.”

  Severus chuckled. “Was it purely self-defense? Well then, I guess you could consider my taking you as self-defense as well. Our own defense. Now that I have you under my control, your sorry band of vampire hunters will go back to their pathetic lives watching late night reruns and collecting comic books.”

  “They’ll come to rescue me.” Joan didn’t really believe that, but she needed some form of hope and it made her feel a little bit better.

  Severus placed his lips against her chin and caressed them along her jaw. A moment of panic raced through her and Joan tried to step back, but Severus placed his hand on her lower back to keep her in place. “No one is coming for you, my dear.” He nibbled tenderly at her earlobe. “You are all mine until I choose to release you. And if you give me trouble, that could end up being a very long time. Have you ever slept with a vampire before?”

  “No, I haven’t.” His lips were teasing, caressing, bringing gooseflesh up on her skin. Tiny ribbons of pleasure drifted from her earlobe and wrapped themselves around her brain. Joan’s heart slowed down a tiny bit as sweet lust moistened her sex.

  He softly moaned in her ear. “Good, then you’re in for a treat.” Severus placed his hand behind her head and eased it back as he nibbled down her neck. His cool breath gave her a chill.

  Dread filled her. What if he bites and turns me into a vampire? “I don’t want to have sex with you,” she said in a breathy whisper. “Please, let me go. Surely, you must have plenty of women who want to make love to you without holding an unwilling one hostage.”

  He caressed her cheek. “How very strong you are. Are you sure you don’t want me?”

  A slow, smoldering fire had started within her. No matter what her words said, he would know she was lying. So she decided to try something else. “I thought you were going to punish me.”

  “My love is punishment, as you will come to see. I can possess your body like no human man.” Then, he swept Joan up in his arms and carried her to his basement.

  Chapter Five

  The basement was better furnished and warmer than Joan expected. Severus carried her down the stairs and gently lowered her to the ground. She tried to quiet her frantic nerves, but it was no use. She was terrified. What is he going to do with me? If he kills me, I hope it’s a quick death and not some lingering, horrible affair where I’m maimed for days.

  Two plush couches lined the east wall. In the center of the room was a small bed covered with a dark red comforter and crowded with embroidered pillows. A lovely blond woman about Joan’s age lay naked on the bed, her soft, pink flesh made all the more beautiful by the scarlet bedding. Severus pointed to one of the couches with a long finger. “Sit there and be quiet.”

  Joan did as she was told. She eased back on the couch and pulled her sweater a little tighter around her shoulders. Joan wasn’t naive about sex, but her experience pretty much ended with her last two boyfriends. A part of her was excited to see what the master vamp had planned for the woman, and a whole other part of her wanted to run far, far away. But considering Joan had little say in what she wanted, she might as well try to relax.

  Severus approached the young woman on the bed. She smiled and wriggled on top of the sheets. The master vampire undressed slowly, shedding his clothes and letting each piece drop to the floor with a dramatic flair. His body was erotic perfection with broad shoulders, a thick chest and knotted arms. His cock, too, was very large and fully erect. Severus ran his hands up the woman’s long legs and gently pulled open her thighs. The woman grinned and lifted her hands above her head in surrender. She was so calm and relaxed Joan was beginning to wonder if she’d been drugged.

  The vampire spread the woman’s legs as wide as they could go. Dark pink skin plumped under the vampire’s watchful eye and glistened with scented moisture. Joan had had sex before, but nothing like this. Most of her experiences entailed heated fumbling in her bedroom until her boyfriend du jour reached his all too quick climax. And that was always the end of that. Joan allowed herself a moment of bitterness, but just as quickly, chased it away. What difference did any of that make now? She was sure that once Severus was finished toying with her, she was as good as dead. Isn’t that what all vampires did?

  As Joan watched, Severus nuzzled between the woman’s moist folds and slipped his tongue into her. The woman gasped, arching her back, and gripped great handfuls of blanket in her fists. Severus ignored the woman’s obvious delight, teasing and licking the tender bud of her clit as it plumped under his dancing tongue. His tongue explored and probed, stopping only to flicker against her clit in quick bursts. The torture went on and on and, the longer Joan watched, the wetter she became. Every moment slowed down to an eternity and soon Joan could imagine in perfect detail what that woman must be feeling. It was almost enough to make her orgasm right there.

  Severus teased the woman’s anus with his tongue and then moved on to stroke her clit again. In seconds, the woman was screaming so loud Joan thought he might have bitten her. Her hips pumped wildly, disrupting the master vamp as he worked until he pinned her to the bed and had her completely at his mercy.

  It was then that Severus planted his first bite, driving his long, ivory teeth into the woman’s right thigh and straight into the femoral artery. Dark blood smeared along the valley between her hip and thigh as Severus latched on and began drinking.

  Joan was both horrified and aroused at the same time. Her pussy was now uncomfortably wet and throbbed hungrily from the scene. She wondered if Severus could smell her excitement. She secretly hoped he planned to torture her that way. Then maybe being kidnapped might not be so bad.

  After what seemed like a long time, the vampire stopped feeding. Severus stepped back as another vampire came out from the shadows and picked the woman up off the bed to carry her away. Somewhere in the dark corner of the basement, a door closed.

  Joan tried to swallow the fear sitting like a lump of coal in her throat. “Who was that?”

  Severus shrugged. “A woman who begged to feed me. I simply granted her request.”

  “I thought vampires hunted for unsuspecting victims?”

  He laughed. “Why would we do that? We have plenty of people who want to serve us. I haven’t taken anyone against their will in years.”

  “You’ve taken me against my will,” Joan protested. He moved closer, his erection so stiff it looked painful. Joan wondered why he hadn’t just fucked the woman while he had the chance.

  “You are a different story. You are being punished for being a very naughty girl. When I get done with you, you’ll be begging for my forgiveness.”

  * * * *

  Severus couldn’t remember wanting a woman this much. Her gaze swept his face. “How long are you planning to punish me for?”

  He touched her cheek, trying to reassure her while still maintaining the tension. “A very, very, very long time. Please, take your blouse off.”

  He used a tone that indicated refusal was not an option. Joan stared at him with large, innocent eyes and, he had to admit, she was a beauty. Her dark brown skin seemed to glow with health and warmth and he could smell the decadent scent of her blood pulsing through her veins. In the centuries he’d been alive, he’d had his share of beautiful women, but there was something a
bout this one that was definitely different. It wasn’t that she seemed inexperienced in the ways of love, but Severus was sure she’d never truly enjoyed herself. Probably the direct result of sleeping with clumsy, inexperienced men.

  Joan hadn’t moved yet. Currents of fear rippled off her and, for a moment, he wondered if she was a virgin. “Are you an innocent?”

  Joan swallowed so hard he heard it. “What? I don’t know what that means.”

  Severus smiled. “It’s a question. Have you had sex before?”

  Her brow knitted and those kissable lips set into a pouty frown. “Yes, of course I have.”

  “So then you have undressed in front of a man.”